Meaning and paraphrasing

Will appreciate your help beforehand.

Universities are, of course, the primary centers of intellectual life in modern society. Therefore, they are a key center of criticism: criticism of society and of the dominant trends in it, especially its politics, by sections of both the staff and the student bodies. This critical role of the university, as the place where ideas are born and where support for criticism is found among students, who form the mass base for many protest movements, has been true for a long time and in many countries.